Three out of the eight aspirants vying for the Chairmanship position of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, have been technically knocked out of the race by the Board Of Trustees, BOT, of the political party, for contesting while still in office.
Those edged out are Professor Tunde Adeniran, Chief Olabode George and Chief Uche Secondus who are all members of the BOT.
The PDP, BOT Chairman, Senator Walid Jibrin who gave this indication during an interview with Premium Times on Sunday night, said this is to create a level playing ground for all the candidates at the party’s national convention scheduled for December 9 in Abuja.
Jibrin, a former senator from Nasarawa State, said, “we won’t back three of the eight chairmanship candidates who are members of the BOT”.
“As leaders of the party, we’re supposed to play down on our personal political ambitions,” the PDP chieftain said.
According to him, “Tunde Adeniran, Bode George and Uche Secondus are members of the PDP Board of Trustees, which has long been dubbed the conscience of the party and they must not be seen using their offices to curry personal gains”.
Others still in the contest are Senator Rasheed Ladoja, Chief Jimi Agbaje, High Chief Raymond Dokpesi, Chief Tahoeed Adedoja and Former Governor Gbenga Daniel.
It would be recalled that Party faithfuls had advised the three aspirants edged out to resign from their offices to contest, but they never took the warning serious.
The PDP BOT Chairman, also spoke on the defection of Chief Abubakar Atiku to the PDP, noting that the field of presidential contenders has expanded in recent weeks, and Abubakar should expect a rigorous competition for the party’s ticket.
He said the PDP is expecting him, but first, the former vice-president “must subject himself to all the constitutional instruments of the party” if he “really wants to be president” by 2019.
